Response of Plants to Water Stress: A Meta-Analysis.

Yuan Sun,Han Y H Chen,Honghua Ruan,Cuiting Wang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2020.00978

Yuan Sun, Han Y H Chen + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.00978

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Abstract

Plants are key to the functionality of many ecosystem processes. The duration and intensity of water stress are anticipated to increase in the future; however, a detailed elucidation of the responses of plants to water stress remains incomplete. For this study, we present a meta-analysis derived from the 1,301 paired observations of 84 studies to evaluate the responses of plants to water stress. The results revealed that although water stress inhibited plant growth and photosynthesis, it increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), plasma membrane permeability, enzymatic antioxidants, and non-enzymatic antioxidants. Importantly, these responses generally increased with the intensity and duration of water stress, with a more pronounced decrease in ROS anticipated over time. Our findings suggested that the overproduction of ROS was the primary mechanism behind the responses of plants to water stress, where plants appeared to acclimatize to water stress, to some extent, over time. Our synthesis provides a framework for better understanding the responses and mechanisms of plants under drought conditions.

Highlights

Drought is expected to continuously and significantly increase by the end of this century (Choat et al, 2012; Bu et al, 2018; Sun et al, 2020)
We examined the responses of eighteen indices to drought, including abscisic acid (ABA), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), ascorbate (AsA), carotenoid (Car), CAT, chlorophyll (Chl), dry weight, electrolyte leakage (EL), maximal efficiency of PSII photochemistry (Fv/Fm), glutathione reductase (GR), malondialdehyde (MDA), POD, proline, protein, photochemical quenching coefficient, reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and soluble sugar
We found that the effect sizes for plasma membrane permeability (PMP), enzymatic antioxidants (EA), and non-enzymatic antioxidants (NEA) increased significantly under water stress, and the effect size for growth and PS decreased

Summary

Introduction

Drought is expected to continuously and significantly increase by the end of this century (Choat et al, 2012; Bu et al, 2018; Sun et al, 2020). Understanding the detailed patterns and mechanisms of responses by plants to water stress is central to predicting future plant functionality and resilience in the face of increasingly frequent drought episodes. Water limitations lead to the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and superoxide anion radicals (Ō2·) which results in growth inhibition (Wallace et al, 2016), decreases in photosynthetic functions (Deeba et al, 2012), lipid peroxidation, and the higher frequency of programmed cell death processes (Gill and Tuteja, 2010). To adapt to water stress, plants have evolved many acclimation mechanisms, including osmotic adjustment and antioxidant defense systems, which enhances their capacity to grow and develop under drought conditions (Fu and Huang, 2001; Khaleghi et al, 2019). Modifications in the activities of these enzymes are likely the primary path in plants for tolerating water stress (Nikoleta-Kleio et al, 2020)

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